Overshoe having bellows tongue and slide fastener



June 6, 1961 G. H. BINGHAM JR 2,986,824

OVERSHOE HAVING BELLOWS TONGUE AND SLIDE FASTENER Filed March 31, 1960INVENTOR.

Gar 009E (771 U imdS a eS Pat w 2,986,824 OVERSI-IOE HAVING BELLOWSTONGUE AND SLIDE FASTENER I George H. Bingham, Jr., Westminster, Md.,assignor to Cambridge Rubber Company, Taneytown, Md., a corporation ofMaryland Filed Mar. 31, 1960, 'Ser. No. 18,978 1 Claim. (Cl. 36-73) Thisinvention pertains to waterproof footwear, for example, to an overshoeincluding a bottom structure and an upper, and wherein the upper has athroat opening protected by a bellows tongue operative to permit theupper to be expanded to facilitate donning and dofiing, and wherein thebellows tongue comprises lateral wings which are joined to the upperproper at opposite edges, respectively, of the throat opening, andretaining means whereby the junctions of the wings with the upper propermay be held closely adjacent to each other when the shoe is in use.

Heretofore it has been customary to povide such a shoe with buckles orwith buttons and loops for holding the throat opening properly closedwhen the shoe is in use, but such prior closure devices, at best, areeffective at spaced points only along the throat opening, permitting theopening to gap apart between such fasteners, and such prior fasteners inmost instances, necessitate the puncturing of the upper in attaching thefastener, and the fasteners form projections, often unsightly, whichdetract from the desired neat appearance of the shoe, and which in someinstances are of a type capable of causing injury to other garments ofthe wearer.

Objects of the invention are to provide fastener means for a shoe of theabove type which is operative to hold the throat opening closeduninterruptedly from its upper to its lower end.

A further object is to provide a shoe of the above type having fastenermeans for holding the throat opening closed, which does not necessitatethe puncturing of the shoe upper, and which does not project outwardlybeyond the outer surface of the upper.

A further object is to provide a shoe of the above type having fastenermeans which do not detract from the desired neat appearance of the shoeor constitute a possible cause of injury to other garments of thewearer.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will bepointed out in the following more detailed description and by referenceto the accompanying drawings, wherein,

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a waterproof overshoe embodying thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the shoe of FIG. 1, with the fastenerdevice closed;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, diagrammatic section, to larger scale,substantially on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section similar to FIG. 3, but showing the upper of the shoeexpanded; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary detail to larger scale than FIG. 4, showing themode of attaching the fastener tape to the bellows tongue.

Referring to FIG. 1, the numeral designates an overshoe which, except ashereinafter described, may be of a conventional type and which, forexample, may be of a kind made by ordinary rubber footwear procedure, orwhich may be of plastic and made by an appropriate method of procedure,for example, slush molding. This shoe has the bottom structure 11 andthe upper 12, the latter, as illustrated (FIG. 3), having a throatopening T at its front extending downwardly from its upper edge 13 to apoint 14 above the instep arch. The throat opening is protected by abellows tongue B consisting of flexible waterproof material and, as hereillustrated (FIG. 3),

.; comprising the lateral wings 15 and 16 which are joined,

at fold lines 17 and 18 to the upper proper at the opposite edges,respectively, of the throat opening. These wings are joined at theirrear edges at the fold lines 19 and 20, respectively, to the oppositeedges of the central panel 1 21 of the bellows tongue. It will beunderstood that, at the several fold lines, the united parts are joinedin a leak-tight manner and that if the shoe is of plastic made by amolding process, the upper proper and the bellows tongue may beintegrally joined.

In accordance with the present invention a slide fastener F (FIG. 2) isemployed for holding the fold lines 17 and 18 adjacent to each other, asshown in FIGS. 2 and 3 when the shoe is in use. This slide fastenercomprises the flexible tapes 22 and 23 which are usually of textilematerial, although if desired, of a suitable plastic, each tape carryingat its forward edge a row of fastener units U which are usually ofmetal, although they may be of other material, for example, plastic. Thefastener also comprises the usual actuating slider S.

The respective tapes of the fastener are united to the wings 15 and 16of the bellows tongue, desirably by the employment of a suitable cement,if the tape be of textile material, or by a fused plastic if the tape beof plastic material. As shown in FIG. 5, the tape 22 is attached to thewing 15 by cement C, but so as to leave the front marginal portion 25 ofthe tape free from connection to the wing 15, so that this forwardmargin of the tape which carries the slide fasteners U may be flexedrelatively to the wing 15 to facilitate the operation of the fastener.As will be noted from FIGS. 4 and 5, the row of fastener units isnormally approximately flush with the fold line 17.

In use, when the slider S is drawn upwardly, it pulls the fold lines 17and 18 toward each other throughout the entire length of the throatopening so that these fold lines are closely adjacent to each other,leaving a space between them which is only approximately equal to thewidth of the united rows of fastener units. When the shoe is to bedonned, the slider is moved downwardly to the lower end of the throatopening, thus permitting the shoe upper to be expanded, as shown in FIG.4, and when the shoe has been drawn over the foot, the slider may theybe moved upwardly, as above described, to close the throat opening.

With this arrangement, it is unnecessary to make any holes through theshoe upper for the reception of rivets, sewing thread or the like, andthere are no elements projecting outwardly from the surface of the shoeupper, such as to detract from the appearance of the latter or to causeannoyance to the wearer, or injury to his person or to other garments."Moreover, the throat opening is closed uniformly from top to bottomwithout the formation wrinkles, so that in side elevation, as shown inFIG. 1, the silhouette of the shoe is smooth and presents a neat andpleasing appearance.

While as here illustrated, the opening which is protected by the bellowstongue is at the front of the shoe, as is most usual, it is contemplatedthat the invention will be of equal utility if the opening be at someother location, for example, at the side of the upper, and that while aspecific arrangement of parts has herein been illustrated and by way ofexample, the invention is broadly inclusive of any and all modificationsfalling within the scope of the annexed claim.

I claim:

A waterproof shoe having a bottom structure and upper, the upper havinga throat opening extending downwardly from its upper edge thereby topermit the upper to be expanded to facilitate donning and doffing, abellows tongue comprising lateral wings whose forward edge areintegrally joined to the upper proper at opposite Patented June 6, 19 61edges, respectively, of the throat opening, and a central panel offlexible material which integrally unites the rear edges of said wings,said bellows tongue being integral withlthe outer. integument of saidupper-so ts to, define a unitary single ply therewith, the junctions ofsaid wings with the upper and with the central panel, respectively;being Waterproof and defining foldlines at which the bellows tongue isfolded when the shoe is'in use, and a slide fasten r comprising a pairof textile tapes, each carrying a row of fastener units, onerespectively of said tapes being joined to the outer, surface of acorresponding wing of the bellows tongue with an adhesive bond, eachtape extending lengthwise of the respective wing througlv out the majorportion of the width of the tape, but having that margin which carriesthe fastener units free from the 15 2,891,328

References Citedin the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 502,275Bullard Aug. 1, 1893" 1,561,430 Glidden et a1 Nov. 10, 1925 1,777,137Blair Sept. 30, 1930 2,108,650 Casey Feb. 15, 1938 2,753,635 Eade July10, 1956 2,756,516 Teague July 31, 1956

